Rockwall husband's effort to cheer grieving wife spreads Christmas joy to whole community

This time of year, 1655 Plummer Drive in Rockwall is the brightest house on the block. In fact, it vies to be the brightest in all of North Texas.

Transforming their yard into a winter wonderland is no small feat for David and Brenda Hughes.

“We have around 120,000 lights. We try to count them every year. We kind of lose count, but pretty close to 120,000,” said David Hughes.

They toil for months to craft a Christmas spectacle that can draw in hundreds of neighbors in just one night, sparking smiles and filling hearts of all ages with Christmas cheer.

But while the detail of their display is rather elaborate, the story behind it is a humble one.

“In 2019, Brenda lost her son tragically and obviously was down, sad,” said David.

“It was tough,” said Brenda.

Earlier that year, Brenda got the call that her 29-year-old son, Nathaniel, died by suicide, extinguishing a soul she remembered as good and generous.

Months later, Brenda found herself in a terribly dark place in what should have been the brightest of seasons.

“Kind of in an effort to cheer her up, I started talking about Christmas and she’s like, ‘How could I do Christmas?’ And I said, ‘Let’s just start with a tree.’ And that’s the tree behind us,” said David.

“Glittery it’s all glittery,” she said.

“We started buying decorations and one thing led to another and I found a real pretty sparkly swan and we decided we’re going to decorate the yard,” he added.

“Well I said, ‘The swan needs a pond,’ so he built her a pond. And so then she’s sparkling in her little pond, and I said you know, ‘Now the pond needs a river,” said Brenda.

Little by little, amid a yard now full of store-bought lights strung with love, Brenda said she began to heal.  

“We weren’t as bright as we are now, so we were at 10 or 15,000 lights. And so he would leave them on for me. I would go out in the middle of the night, and I would just talk to God and Nathaniel. I would get… peace. It would bring me so much peace. And I could go to sleep that night,” she said.

Together the next year, the couple added to their display, winning a neighborhood contest and attracting hundreds of candy cane-craved kids.

“To see not only the kids but full grown adults, 60-year-old women dancing in the streets and having so much fun,” said David.

“It’s so fun. I feel like we’re magical,” said Brenda.

Inspired by Nathaniel’s giving spirit, in recent years, the couple has channeled that magic into good, using their nightly crowds to collect donations for Meals on Wheels.

“We had the God in here moment that I’d been looking for. I wanted to do something all along, but I just didn’t know how. I didn’t know how to do it. And so they helped me with the signs for the Meals on Wheels in memory of Nathaniel and so it just grew from there,” said Brenda.

Last year, the couple raised $6,000.

This year, they’re aiming for $10,000 for an on-site kitchen that will help senior citizens prepare their own meals.

As of Friday night, they’d raised $8,000.

It’s part of their effort, along with the opportunity to connect with other mothers and people who’ve grieved loved ones, to stay in the light and to encourage their community to do the same.